the group, could not be interrogated under modern critical theory. McGowan did not only produce analyses of dance; her researches into French poetry were also lauded. For example, her book Ideal Forms in the Age of Ronsard (1985), situated French literature in the political and moral climate. The poetry of Ronsard is seen to be praise poetry, a genre perhaps unfamiliar to modern readers, and therefore requiring knowledge of Renaissance conventions. Praise poetry was not only laudatory but also a medium of instruction in proper behaviour made palatable to the aristocracy. Along with visual idealisation as rendered by portraiture, court patronage demanded poetic idealisation as well. McGowan's coverage of the rivalries between poetry and art was extensive but critiqued for its nonlinearity, making it difficult to see how Ronsard's career was affected by it. In 2008, McGowan's Dance in the Renaissance: European Fashion, French Obsession was published and garnered the 2009 Wolfson History Prize. This extended her thesis with the latest discoveries in French dance history, juxtaposing the courtly Valois performance art with contemporaneous popular genres. Her deep understanding of the archival material was appreciated, as was the presentation of textual material along with scenic and costume drawings. Especially useful was her detailed analysis of the finances, schedules and rehearsals of ballet production. She was criticised for not engaging, however, with competing researches. For instance, her assessment of Catherine de' Medici as only a dance enthusiast had been subsequently overturned by other scholars who now view her as a prime mover of ballet. Other reviewers pointed out inaccuracies in her rendition of historic names, misunderstandings of source texts, particularly from the Italian, and inaccurate generalisations on the evolution of dance styles. McGowan's 2012 book, La Danse à la Renaissance, analysed sixteenth and seventeenth century dance in France via contemporary art and documents and synthesised the works of French and other specialists of social and political thought, combined with her own primary researches. The book was appreciated for its detailed connections between intellectual happenings and the creations of choreographers and performers as portrayed at the time. After retirement, McGowan continued her researches. Her last book Festival and Violence was published in 2019, on European Renaissance festivals and their mixing of war and art. Before her death she finished Harmony in the Universe, discussing the search for peace via these fêtes. Later life McGowan was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order